A lower than expected level of entries did not detract from a highly competitive Cippenham Women and Girls 1* Open on Sunday.
The fourth annual edition of this event followed the same format as previous seasons with age group, over 21 and under 21 events, events in the morning followed by a fully open event in the afternoon.
The main event featured 13 competitors organized into four preliminary round groups, with the first and second seeded players competing in the main draw, while the others played in a consolation event.
Top seed Holly Holder emerged from the first group with Simona Vassileva in second, while second seeds Anita Jermyn and Bethany Yang did the same from group two. The other qualifiers were Chaoba Thounaojan and Grace Liu from group three and Bhanu Sabaratnam and Molly Brown from group four.
The two seeded players both advanced to their quarter-finals with 3-1 wins, Holder over Yang and Jermyn over Vassileva. Brown defeated Thounaojam, after coming back from 2-1 down, while Liu unfortunately suffered an injury and had to forfeit her match to Sabaratnam.
The semifinals were easier, but Holder needed four games to eliminate Sabaratnam, while Jermyn only needed three to do the same to Brown.
The final produced a fierce, fast-paced counter-hitting match that ultimately resulted in a 3–0 win for Jermyn, although Holder had chances to win the first game, which ended in deuce.
Earlier in the day, Holder had tasted success when she won the Over-21 Singles. The same two seeded players advanced through their groups, although Holder only just survived 13-11 in the fifth against Chloe Ireland and Jermyn was defeated by Thounaojam.
That defeat saw Jermyn pitted against Holder in the semi-final and, unlike the result later in the day, this time it was Holder who emerged victorious and she then defeated Thounaojam over four games in the final.
The Under-21 event was played as a round-robin between the five competitors. Grace Liu was the eventual winner, but she had to survive two five-match matches against Bethany Yang, who finished second, and Molly Brown, who finished fourth.
The Open Consolation and Over-21 Consolation events were both won by Ireland, with Mary Heffernan defeated on both occasions.
The event was organized by Margaret Thornton and refereed by Sue Hayes.
#Holder #Jermyn #shine #competitive #Cippenham #Women #Girls #Table #Tennis #England